A/N Harry Potter and other established characters do not belong to me, they belong to J.K. Rowling. The only things that do belong to me are the plot and charters not seen in Rowlings books. (I'm a genius, I know! ^-^) Ok enough, here is the next chapter. Now go climb a tree, and stay there until my next chapter is finished!)

Harry Potter and the Staff of Time

chapter 12

Raven the Trickster

Ron and Neville slid to a halt outside the entryway to the Great Hall. They approached the table, where the rest of the group waited, at a more sedate pace.

"So, where is he?!" Savana gave voice to the question on everyone's mind.

"Har...ry's...puff...he's...puff...read..." Ron wheezed. He threw the note onto the table. Neville dropped into an open seat, still panting.

The rest of the group made varying comments of dismay as they finished reading the note.

"Well, at least he didn't ditch me." Cho attempted to lighten the mood.

"We've got to get some help." Hermione said. "Don't look at me like that, Savana! Do you have a better idea?" Hermione challenged her. "Do any of you...?"

The others shrugged their shoulders, or shook their heads.

"Let's go and ask Alex what to do." Hermione concluded.

Ron muttered something about, "...Oh, yes...let's go and ask the great and powerful Alex...he'll know exactly what to do...!" As he trailed along behind the rest of the group.

They made their way across the hall until they finally reached Alex and Fleur. Hermione quickly explained what was happening and handed the scrap of paper to them to read.

Alex grabbed Fleur's hand and began to lead her, as well as the others, toward the entrance.

"Find Hagrid and tell him to meet us in the entryway to the Great Hall. Then, go release Chia and tell her to meet me at the Shrieking Shack." Alex quietly commanded Savana.

They all waited by the entryway until Hagrid had joined them there, a few minutes later. Savana had already gone to release Chia.

They decided that they would all go as far as the tunnel under the Whomping Willow, since none of the adults were familiar with either the switch, or the tunnel. Once they reached that point, however, only the adults would continue on to the Shrieking Shack.

Alex told the students to inform Professor Dumbledore about the situation and what they were doing to take care of it. Then they all made their way to the Whomping Willow.

Once they had reached it, Ron told the others to wait while he crawled through the branches to reach the deactivation switch.

Ron still owned the detested, old fashioned, maroon, dress robe. His mother had altered it twice, in order to make it fit Ron. He hoped it would be irreparabley ruined once he had preformed this small chore. Then he would be able to get a more up-to-date dress robe to replace this one, and he would avoid his mother's wrath at the destruction of his present robe. Ron was certain his mother would forgive him, since his robe was ruined while rescuing Harry. He grinned as he deliberately caught his sleeve, then his back, on the tips of the willow's wildly flailing branches. The branches obligingly tore wide ragged holes in the ancient fabric, but left Ron undamaged.

Ron punched the knot on the tree's trunk, which immobilized its branches, and called the others in to the tunnel's entrance. Then, he cast a spell with his wand for light and entered the tunnel. Ron looked around while he waited for the adults to join him. His gaze fell onto a folded garment, made of a dark, filmey material.

"Oh, no..." Ron sighed, as he picked up Harry's invisibility cloak. Until now Ron had held onto a slim hope that Harry hadn't responded to the note.

"Ques'ce que c'est le problem, Ron?" Fleur asked in alarm.

"Yes, what's the problem, pardner?" Alex echoed.

"I just found Harry's cloak of invisibility." Ron croaked. He had a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Well, at least it tells us that Harry's been here and we're on the right track." Alex suggested. "Let's take this with us, it could prove useful." He added after examining the cloak.

Hagrid stuck his head in just then and said, "Don' think theh likes 'o me'll fit in thereh. Meet yeh in town."

"Oui." Fleur responded quickly.

Alex, however, looked uncomfortable. "Fleur, without Hagrid, we won't know where we're going. You're almost as new here as I am."

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to go with you." Ron stuttered. "I've been through this tunnel before..." Actually, the only time Ron had been through the tunnel, or to the Shrieking Shack, he'd been in so much pain that what memories he had of the entire experience were fragmented and foggy. However, Ron was desperate to find Harry.

"D'accord...O.K..., Ron." Fleur said, to Ron's relief. "Let us go, then."

"Lead on, McDuff." Alex said, securing the cloak in his belt and waving Ron forward.

Ron shook his head and began to scuttle along the tunnel. "Americans certainly spoke strangely." He thought. There were many times he had no idea what either Alex or Savana were talking about. They seemed to be communicating in a foriegn language much of the time.

The three reached the end of the tunnel. Alex pushed ahead of Ron and looked around the dilapidated room. He was expecting trouble and didn't want any of them to step out into the middle of something. The room was empty.

"O.K., you two, let's go in and do a CAREFUL search." He instructed Ron and Fleur.

They quickly searched the entire shack. They found several footprints in the dust, as well as Harry's wand in a corner, but nothing else. Alex put Harry's wand in a pocket, then they followed the footprints out into the yard, where the tracks disappeared.

"Nuts!" Alex muttered. "It would have been much easier to just track these guys. Chia, you're up. We're going to need your help."

The magnificent bird sailed the short distance to Alex's shoulder from the tree where she'd been waiting.

"Chia, please fly over the surrounding area and see if you can spot Harry." Alex requested.

Chia rose majestically into the sky and soared over the surrounding meadows and forests. She gave off gentle pulses of multi-colored light as she flew.

...`~*~`...

Harry became aware of voices, one of them sounded familiar, but his brain was too foggy for him to place the voice with a person.

"...and he should be here by now! This place gives me the creeps!"

"Lord Voldemort told me to keep you here until he arrives." Said the whiney, familiar voice.

Harry shivered. The ground upon which he lay was wet and cold. He forced an eye open and saw three robed and hooded figures through the swirling ground fog. "Death Eaters!" He thought.

Harry looked around and saw that he was in the swampy clearing of a forest. It looked absolutely primeval! The air was heavy with the stench of wet, rotting vegetation.

"My vision! I saw them and this place in my vision!" Harry thought in amazement.

Harry shook involuntarily when he heard a loud noise, a combination of a shriek and a roar, echo through the soggy air.

"What is that?!" Squawked the familiar voice.

Then Harry realised who the voice belonged to, it was Peter Pettigrew! (Also known as Scabbers, the rat, in his animagus form.)

Peter Pettigrew had betrayed Harry's family to Lord Voldemort, then framed Sirius Black for their murders.

"It's probably a drake." Answered a deep, harsh voice.

"DRAKES!" Harry thought with alarm. "Drakes live here?!"

Harry had learned about drakes last year and they had sounded like nasty creatures. Drakes had features similar to dragons: their reptilian heads contained rows of sharp teeth; their bodies were long and scaley, with heavy tails and large wings. Drakes, however, did not breath fire and had only two claws, which were formidible, and preferred to live in swampy places.

"Raven, you never told us there were drakes in here!" Peter whined.

"What's the problem, Peter? Are you afraid one of them will attack you?" Raven teased. "You don't need to worry, unless you transform into a rat, then you'll make a nice, little hors- d'oeuvre for it!"

"What is to prevent a drake from scooping you up for a snack if you transform, Raven?" The third Death Eater quiered. "You may be known as Raven, the trickster, but you can't outfly a hungry drake!" He laughed unpleasantly.

Harry recognised the voice of the third Death Eater as that of Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's father. He wondered just what they had planned for him. His past experiences with Pettigrew, Malfoy, and Voldemort hadn't exactly been positive.

Harry suspected they had brought him to the Phantom Forest. When it was visible, it was located on the outskirts of Hogsmead. Hagrid had told them that drakes lived there and that it was an unplesant place, filled with dangerous life forms (both plant and animal).

The Phantom Forest had gotten its name because it tended to appear and disappear, along with everything in it, whether it belonged in the forest or not.

Harry felt a pressing desire to leave before he disappeared along with the forest. He cautiously searched the sky and hoped he would be able to escape. Then, he saw a multi-colored, pulsing light appear in the star filled sky, far above the edge of the clearing.

"Please, be Chia." Harry breathed hopefully.

The lights vanished and Harry had to swallow his brief surge of hope. It was replaced by fear. The Death Eaters were aware that Harry was awake and they were moving toward him!

...`~*~`...

Chia let off a victorious scream, then swooped down toward Alex and the rest of the group, who stood waiting for her. She landed on Alex's shoulder and gazed intently into his eyes.

"Alors, what iz that in 'er beak?" Fleur had a look of disgust on her face as she studied the slimey, green-brown, bit of vegetation that Chia held in her beak. "'as she found 'arry?" She continued, voicing the question on all of their minds.

"ARRGH! It smells like a stink bug!" Alex squawked, holding his nose. "Chia, I know you brought this back with you to let us know where Harry is, but couldn't you have chosen something that smelled better?!"

Chia made a small chirping sound in her throat, which Alex suspected was the thunder bird equivelant of laughter, and dropped the disgusting plant at his feet.

"Yeh know, birds don't have a good sense 'a smell, Alex. She's haven' a bit 'o fun with yeh." Hagrid chuckled. "Chia brought yeh a piece 'o meekowort...only grows in theh Phantom Forest and it makes a good soup."

"You EAT that thing?!" Alex shouted in disbelief.

"The important thing is that Chia has found Harry and is trying to tell us where he is." Ron interrupted the discourse. He told the others what he knew about the Phantom Forest while Hagrid filled in the gaps.

Alex instructed Ron to don the invisibility cloak and Chia to fly ahead to show them where Harry was located. Then, with a collective gulp, the group made their way into the Phantom Forest.

...`~*~`...

Harry gulped and tried to scrabble away from his captors. "Who are you and why am I here?" He demanded, trying to sound confident, but his voice cracked and the question was completed in a most undignified squeek.

Harry knew why he was here and who his captors were, however, he had no intention of letting the Death Eaters know that. He was curious as to the true idenity of Raven, though he suspected no further information would be offered.

"We just thought you'd appreciate a nice, little Halloween picnic." Raven said sarcastically. "But, my associates appear to have forgotten the treats, so we'll have to settle for tricks."

Lucius felt something wet mouthing his heel, then sharp teeth began to clamp down tenatively on the same area. He yanked his foot away and lept forward in one violent motion.

"Ouch! Something just bit me!" Lucius yelped.

Lucius looked around to assure himself that nothing else dangerous lurked nearby. Once he was assured of his relative safety, he inspected his heel. A row of punctures circled the heel of his shoe, which was covered with grey-green slime. He removed the damaged shoe and held it at arm's length between his thumb and forefinger.

"Geez! The bloody thing stinks like a rotting carcus! It's ruined! These shoes cost me 5 galleons, and now some bloody beast ruined them!" Lucius ranted while Raven began to laugh heartily. (Lucius didn't know that Hagrid, Fleur, Alex and Ron crouched nearby, doing their best not to laugh outloud. They had approached the clearing just in time to see the entire scene.)

"It wasn't an animal that bit you. It was a rustiflora flower." Raven smirked at Lucius with a superior attitude.

"Lucius the mighty...brought down by a...flower!" Peter began to laugh so hard that tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Shut up you git!" Lucius glared at Peter, then he turned and glared at the offending flower.

The rust colored flowerhead was about the size of a softball, surrounded by large, ruffled petals which were a darker shade of rust. It's mouth had an underbite and the cheeky thing was actually smiling at him!

"You're lucky that's a young one, it can only bite a chunk out of you. An adult rustiflora could swallow you whole! Oops, bye bye world!" Raven said gleefully. "Now, bring that kid over here. I hear something in the brush and I think it's Lord Voldemort."

Ron looked up in horror when Raven said that. Had the Death Eaters heard him? He was still covered by the invisibility cloak, except his feet and lower legs. They had become exposed while Ron had been trying to kick away a vine which kept winding around his ankles and purring.

"Stupid tabby creeper!" Ron thought as he kicked at the annoying, carnivorious plant again before it could tighten around him like a boa constrictor.

The creeper purred again as Ron finally managed to extricate himself from its coils. He gave the creeper one final kick for good measure. It hissed at him and slithered away.

"If that's Lord Voldemort, why is he hiding in the bushes?! I think it's a drake, or another one of those obnoxious plants!" Whined Peter.

Alex motioned the others over to him. "The jig is up!" He whispered to them. "Ron, readjust your cloak, your feet are showing...Hagrid!...Hagrid?!..." But, Hagrid wasn't there!

Hagrid had ambled casually to the clearing's edge, where he pretended to be searching for meekowort. He was already holding a handfull of the noxious stuff and he had bent over to pluck somemore when he pretended to notice Harry and the Death Eaters.

"Evenin' to yeh." Hagrid greeted the group. "Jus' gatherin' some soup stock...Harry, what 'er yeh doin' here? Thought yeh were at theh dance. Are yeh lost?" Hagrid said naively.

"What are you doing out here?" Lucius demanded. "This isn't the time or place to be taking your daily constitutional. And, don't tell me that soup story," he continued when Hagrid opened his mouth to speak. "I know you're out here looking for him!" He indicated Harry.

"Well, now you can wait with him for Lord Voldemort. We'll let him decide what to do with you. Don't try any stupid stunts either!" Peter tried to sound tough, but his voice was tremulous.

Hagrid edged over toward Harry, but searched the edge of the forest as he did so. He was smiling when he sat down next to Harry and began to softly whistle an eerie, melancholy tune.

"Hagrid, what do you think you're do...?" Harry began to say. But, Hagrid stopped him with a look which left no question in Harry's mind that Hagrid wanted him to be quiet.

"Now what should we do?" Alex muttered in desperation.

Hagrid's impulsive actions had left Alex's fledgling plan in tatters. Then, as he watched the activity in the clearing, Alex realised Hagrid was executing a plan of his own. A variety of carnivorous plants, including rustiflora and tabby creepers, were stealthily creeping up behind the Death Eaters. Alex gasped as he realised that Hagrid's whistled tune was drawing the creepy crawlers toward the Death Eaters.

"Stop that infernal whistling before I hit you with a spell that will fuse your mouth closed!" Raven demanded irritably.

Fleur poked Alex. "You could 'ave Chia geeve 'eem a leetle 'elp." She whispered.

"You've got it!" Alex replyed. He smiled for the first time since they had begun this misadventure. "Chia, go and 'encourage' those guys in the robes to back up into the plants."

Chia flew high up above the trees and let out an angry cry as she dropped toward the Death Eaters with her talons outstretched. The glowing colors around her began to pulse and became more vibrant as the bird focused on her attack.

"What is that?!" Whined Peter as he backed away from Chia.

"Another nefarious inhabitant of this miserable excuse for a forest, no doubt!" Lucius said as he also backpedaled away from the firey creature.

Chia sent a blast of energy toward their feet. It resulted in a burned patch of earth, about 1 meter in diameter, which emitted streamers of smoke. The blast also caused the Death Eaters to back up until they tripped and fell over some tabby creepers. The creepers quickly wrapped themselves around the Death Eaters and began to squeeze the life out of them, purring the entire time.

Alex, Fleur and Ron ran out into the clearing to join Hagrid and Harry.

"Let's get out of here!" Harry shouted.

They all began to back out the way they had come from.

"Oh, no! Peter's transforming into a rat! He's going to get away again!" Ron exclaimed.

Peter's size had changed so rapidly that the tabby creeper could not keep a grip on him. Scabbers scampered rapidly toward the forest, while dodging some hungry rustiflora which snapped at him. They watched helplessly as he disappeared, unmolested, into the underbrush.

"We've still got two...NUTS!" Alex stomped a foot. One of the Death Eaters had turned into a large, black raven and was flying away. "Chia, get him!" Alex ordered.

Chia sent a blast after the fleeing bird, but it missed and hit the tabby creepers which held the third Death Eater. Chia flew off after the raven while the creepers hissed like angry cats and Lucius Malfoy crawled free of them. Lucius ran off in the same direction as Scabbers had gone. Then, just to make things worse, the forest began to fade.

"We've go' ter go, now!" Hagrid shouted and they all began to run as fast as they could until they reached the edge of the rapidly vanishing forest. Once they had reached Hogsmead, they paused to get their breath. Chia joined them there.

"I guess the raven got away, huh Chia?" Alex asked as he scratched her head. Chia made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. "Let's get started back to the school. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore is going to have a few things to say, to all of us."

The group began their trek back to Hogwarts as the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon and illuminate the area where the Phantom Forest had been. Now, however, the area was just a typical moor bathed in the light of dawn.